Broken Arrow Storage Unit Tenant Follows Alleged Thieves

Police say a Broken Arrow man stopped two would-be thieves right in their tracks.

Officers say Casey Hodge and Frank Sinnett were stealing from a storage unit when the renter showed up.

Mark Miller said it was just by chance he decided to check on some of the things he had in storage. And of course he was surprised when he said he found two men loading up some of his belongings.

He said they jumped in their truck and took off -- and he followed.

“Five minutes either way, I probably would have missed them,” Miller said. “They were in there unloading, and we pulled down there and he closed and that's when they tried to take off.”

That's when Miller said he tried to block the two men in, but they were able to make it out a back entrance.

So he followed them, while on the phone with 911, giving dispatchers a play-by-play of the pursuit that he says never exceeded the speed limit.

“It wasn't like some Diehard movie or anything like that, I just followed the guy,” he said.

The chase started at 101st and Elm in Broken Arrow and ended about 15 miles away near U.S. Highway 75 and 111th in Jenks, where troopers and police officers stopped Hodge and Sinnett.

“I sat in my car and they arrested them... walked them by. They wouldn't look at me.” Miller said.

Major Mark Irwin said the suspects also were found with a pipe used for smoking meth. He says the men were likely planning to pawn what they stole.

“That's the motivator to buy more drugs is you steal property and then you sell it, and it just becomes a vicious cycle; it's unfortunate,” Irwin said.

On Thursday, a one week after Miller's things were taken, they were returned.

“My chainsaw, some speakers I had, and with the evidence tags still attached,” Miller said. “Toolbox, my rotary saw.”

Everything was loaded and headed back where it belongs -- with the owner.

“I just wanted to get my stuff back,” Miller said. “I was glad. I'm sure there was other people’s stuff in that trailer that wanted their stuff back, too.”

Irwin said there were many other items on the trailer, which leads them to believe the men stole from other storage units. Police hope to be able to track down the owners.